I started writing my blog in 2009, the year our first black president was sworn into office. Although I had written pieces previously over the previous eight years, it was not until fall of 2009 that I put pen to paper regularly. Did I mention that when I started we had our first black president?
I mention the fact that Barack Obama is black because for most of the eight years I’ve been writing I’ve been called racist. Never to my face, sometimes on Facebook and not infrequently in the larger sense as someone who supports the Constitution and advocates small government.
In all honesty I’ve probably lost half a dozen friends via Facebook over that exact point. These weren’t just “Facebook friends” but rather people I’ve known for years or even decades, people I’ve worked closely with and some with whom I’ve shared Christmas dinner. Each time it was over an issue that is near and dear to the left such as gay marriage, Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter or some similar issue.
In each case I tried to make my arguments focusing on the facts… slippery slopes, rates of unwed motherhood, government incompetence – such as with Solyndra – economics, etc. Each time while things might start out cordial enough, eventually, because I could not be swayed to my “friend’s” position I was called a racist, sexist, homophobe etc. I was suddenly labeled a hater of whatever group was impacted by the policy we might have been discussing, despite evidence to the contrary! The thing is, it didn’t seem to matter at all what I actually said, the words I actually wrote… if I didn’t agree with the other person’s point of view they seemed to have no problem slapping their label on me and feeling victorious.
It makes you think… if people I know well, people who’ve know me for years and worked with me and socialized with me can suddenly feel comfortable applying these labels to me – albeit on Facebook – because I’ve written about conservative, Constitutional positions – never, ever because of something I’ve actually ever said or done – what kind of debate is even possible? Particularly when some of the people I respect the most and quote most frequently are themselves black such as Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele.
Now we have a white president… but apparently I’m still a racist. Even though there were LOTS of things about Donald Trump I disliked and wrote about, the fact that I actually voted for the guy makes me racist. Interestingly, had I voted for the other white person on the ticket I’d have apparently no longer been a racist…
The funny thing is, the fact that there were two white people to choose from actually drives home the fact that my vote didn’t have any more to do with race than it did when I voted against Barack Obama. I voted against Barack Obama and railed against his policies for eight years not because he’s black, but because he’s a statist. Coincidentally, I voted against Hillary Clinton because she’s a statist. I opposed Barack Obama from day one because he is a progressive who seeks to diminish the United States on the world stage and destroy capitalism and eviscerate freedom. Coincidentally I opposed Hillary Clinton because she is a progressive who seeks to destroy capitalism and eviscerate freedom. Apparently, none of those things matter… once the left has decided their position they feel confident enough that they can label any dissenters as some version of “ist” with little regard for the actual facts.
Of course that’s the point… with the left, reality and facts rarely matter. Whether it’s the connection between unwed mothers and crime, or between a higher minimum wage and higher unemployment among the unskilled workers, or between increased regulation and lower GDP growth. the only important thing is what politicians say and who they offer the most goodies to, it’s never what actually happens. And it holds true not only in politics, but in real life as well. And sometimes it’s more than just losing a couple of friends. Remember a few years ago when the left wanted New York-Presbyterian Hospital to refuse a $100 million donation because it came from the Koch brothers?
Will we ever get back to a point where political discussions are separate from individual emotions and passions and we can focus on facts rather than name calling? With the media in general and social media in particular fanning the flames of narcissism, unwarranted self esteem and the primacy of the “right” to be free from offense over individual freedom and limited government, don’t expect a turnaround anytime soon. But at least with Trump there is a glimmer of hope. He may be a lot of things, but something he’s not is a socialist who loves regulation and high taxes. Those three things alone will be a 180 degree change from what we’ve had for the last eight years. One wonders if the economy finally pulls itself out of the 1.5% malaise it’s been in since Barack Obama became president and starts to actually grow to its potential, how many of today’s lefties will start separating fact from fiction when they see incomes rising, opportunities increasing and having a bit extra in their pockets at the end of the month? There may be hope… After all, Ronald Reagan who was much vilified by the left finished his second term with an approval rating of almost 65%.
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Looks like the little snowflakes cant get over that trump was elected so if they want to leave america right now then they just go ahead and do it becuase their no longer american citizens just a bunch of ungreatful little snot uckets
Vince, your smoke and mirrors just can’t hide the fact that Donald “Grab Them By The Vagina” Trump has spent the past 8 years playing from the Southern Strategy playbook of deligitamizing Obama with his birther selling, has a long history of racial discriminating, ran his entire campaign apealing to the KKK etc with racial and anti-Semitic inuendoes and sound bites, and is now loading up his cabinet with rabid racists.
As far as your Facebook conversations and writings, I can’t say as I’m unaware of the context but based on the admission that so many found you repulsive along with your rather disdain or perhaps, lack of empathy on any part of BLM or issues pertaing to our cultural breakdown could point a finger or 2 back at you. The very fact that you chastise Obama for a slow economic recovery after he pulled us back from the Bush era disater, oversaw 15 million job growth, and actually saw wage increases- all with a defiant and intentionally sabotaging oposition party is rather telling. You simply see what you want to see and ignore what you want to ignore and can’t understand why some reject your cherry picked theories.
And then to put icing on your rhetoric pie, you deduce a bianary conclusion that voting for a black or white candidate is considered racism by those that don’t agree with you. Your argument goes further off the rail when you want to be vindicated because you enjoy reading Sowell and Steele-as if it has credence because, well, you found a few of them you actually like.
It is much more than some open and shut argument my friend.
I have two friends I have known for a long time, both are liberals. My one friend called and asked whether I was still voting for the azzhole after he made the
‘P’ comment. I said what about bill assaulting and raping women? Her response? “that doesn’t matter”. The other friend every time I mentioned something about hillary, he would go on tangents about Bush. I have learned that since these two people support Hillary regardless what she says or does or has done, our values are different and will always be parallel. I won’t be friends with these people any longer. I won’t be friends with people who support criminal activity, deviant behavior and treasonous conduct.
@Enchanted
A woman’s husband cheats on her and that makes her just as guilty as a man that openly brags about how he can sexually assault women because of his elite status?
Do you guys even hear how rediculus your arguments are?
@Enchanted:
Another no nonsensical aspect from the Trump lickers is that the left loved Hillary. That obviously wasn’t the case.
And most conversations I run into are rather quite if not remorseful- as if someone had to put down their ailing dog. Very very few that I encounter are happy or proud that the voted for the serial lying, racist, sexist, egomaniac con man.
But, they did and now we need to hold this ugly son of a hitch in check the best we can rather than pretending he is something he isn’t.
@Ajay42302:
You’ve been drinking the Leftist Koolaid mixed with meth…you anti-American bigot. There were more people in my highschool than there now are in the whole KKK. As for BLM, being anti-white is every bit as racist and wrong as being anti-black. Being anti-cop is even worse since it’s the cops who are trying to protect decent blacks, whites and all other shades of human.
You are the hateful bigot, Ajay…
Ajay42302 You have been drinking the kool aid laced with stupid weed it appears your brain has shrunk to walnut size keep it up and soon it was dissapear entierly and you will become a snowflake
@Kalashnikat:
New sockpuppet reading from the same playbook.
@Ajay42302:
But the woman shouldn’t be trying to coverup for her husband
Consider this; every Republican that voted for Trump would have supported whomever was the Republican nominee. Very few supported Trump for Trump; he was the firewall against Hillary and another failed liberal administration, plus loads of corruption.
The Democrats offered four white guys and a white woman criminal. The only way anyone was going to have an opportunity to vote for an Hispanic or black person would have been by voting for the Republican candidate, had it been someone other than Trump. and Republicans would have done it.
Ever since the end of the 60’s, the Democrat party has been singularly focused on trying to portray America as a country divided between all the “good Americans”, who embrace equality for Blacks, women, Gays, and care about the environment, and all the “bad Americans”, who supposedly want to drag us back to the days when a Black person’s place was on the back of the bus, a woman’s place was in the kitchen…barefoot and pregnant, a homosexual’s place was cowering in a closet, and nobody concerned themselves about dirty air and dirty water.
This is a complete farce, because 98% of Americans have absolutely no interest in promoting bigotry, and nobody wants to breathe dirty air or drink, swim , and fish in dirty water.
But the Democrats understand that the social and cultural upheaval of the 60’s was something that left a huge impression on both the people who lived through it, as well as younger people who romanticize that era.
The Democrats also understand that appealing to people’s cultural, intellectual, and moral vanity can be a huge factor in swaying their political positions.
Add to that, the fact that most people aren’t that interested in the nuts and bolts of politics, and you have a recipe that perfectly suits the Democrat’s game plan………..
Use images from the 60’s of Martin Luther King, Gloria Steinem, cops and construction workers beating up hippies, the Stonewall riots, polluted Great Lakes, the US military bombing Vietnamese villages, etc, etc, to create the impression that people have to choose “which side of history” they want to be on. And then, all the people who fancy themselves as members of the “good half” of America, can just nod along in agreement with whatever the self appointed “champions of equality and tolerance” say, without having to take the time to analyze both sides of the issues on their own.
So no, don’t expect anything to change anytime soon.
In fact, go to any Bohemian/hipster neighborhood in any metropolitan area. You will see people parading around in the most outlandish outfits with green and purple hair, full body tattoos, piercings, etc……all desperately trying to express their individuality. Yet all these vain, self obsessed peacocks are totally sympathetic to socialism, which completely frowns on individual expression in favor of selfless, worker bee devotion to the collective.
What’s the explanation for this contradictory behavior? It’s called rebelling against Daddy with his business suit, briefcase, and suburban values. The vanity of these Left wing peacocks is just too strong to overcome logic.
Just remember that the people who accuse you of being a racist, sexist, homophobe don’t really care about Blacks, women, and Gays. They only care about their own sense of superiority over the unwashed masses in flyover country. It’s the only thing they’ll ever care about, and the Democrats are quite happy to keep on exploiting this sad fact.
@Ajay42302: @Ajay42302: Really? I am talking about two of my friends that were adamant about hillary, believed her to be the best, had the best platforms and did NOT care what laws she broke, did not care that she participated in parties with children (thank you wikileaks), etc. etc. I was NOT talking about all liberals or democrats. Stay on track.
@Ajay42302: hillary enabled bill’s behavior. She allowed and defended his behavior and went after those that were assaulted by bill with a vengeance. She did her best to destroy their lives knowing full well what bill had done. Yes, she is as guilty as he.
e.g. if a man robs a bank and his wife and/or family knows that he robbed a bank, they are an accessory to that robbery. – same difference.
Liberals hate.
Liberals are very angry people. They don’t really care about the poor–I worked in a homeless shelter very close to two very liberal schools, never saw any professors and few students, but a lot of Christians came in from the suburbs (I’m an atheist–as much as they want to be seen as caring for them.
They thirst to be someone Significant, like Rosa Parks, but fighting actual evil, actual corruption, actual injustice is difficult and dangerous. So they decide your Facebook postings are the equivalent of construction of a death camp–if they vanquish YOU, well, they’re HEROES, stopping eeeevil—right?
And all their liberal friends will applaud their Heroism…because they know you’ll applaud THEM for bravery when, for example, they boycott that bigots store or company (which they’d never patronized before).
They talk about how wrong it is to judge people, but live to point the finger and label someone. They talk about diversity, but can’t stand diversity where it really matters–they talk about immigrants and how we have to be accepting of them, but can’t talk rationally with the Republican who lives next door.
Liberals talk ‘facts’ but without emotional responses to the critical issues of our time, they would have to be silent, something they can never be–because Silence = Death.
@The Fop: The leaked Posesta and DNC emails reveal how totally accurate you are.
At least now we have a President we’re allowed to criticize. We can’t criticize Obama because racist. And we would not have been able to criticize Clinton because misogynist. But now we can all let loose.
What was it they said about stupid people in large numbers? the ones in the picture above are examples of what i’m squawking about
Ajay42302 Your like that stupid and and annoying insulting sockpuppet dog in those stupid commercials back few few years ago the kind of sock puppet you want to tear to eenitsy teensey peices and throw into a fire
@Spurwing Plover:
http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
Ajay42302 Speak english please dont be a bilingual babble fool
@Ajay42302: …this is too easy! ….Hey, ajay , I know you are but what am I? Awaiting your imbecilic response, bigot.
@enchanted: #13
She may not have robbed the bank, but she sure as hell drove the getaway car.
(By destroying his accusers.)